


To orbit around you

by Anne_L



Category: Greek Mythology, Original Work
Genre: Brother/Brother Incest, Fluff and Angst, Greek Mythology - Freeform, M/M, Science Fiction, Twincest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 08:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10918491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anne_L/pseuds/Anne_L
Summary: In the beginning, there was but a planet. A planet, Deimos and Phobos.





	To orbit around you

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there~
> 
> I wrote this story for a DeLiPa, a Brazilian gay writing challenge usually held on Facebook. The theme was 'deities'. I got Phobos, the Greek god of Fear. 
> 
> Keep in mind that speed and time are relative, so in a reality with no concept of years or even milleniums, what may seem too slow for us isn't slow for them.
> 
> It's the first time I write something in English, so it'd be nice to hear your honest opinions about the plot, the writing, everything.

There were no days or nights when Zeus first banished the Titans to an ablaze, incandescent cage. Among the heat waves of a star called Sun, the villains would stare at the god with hate in their eyes, vowing to escape and grant him the slow, agonizing death he deserved. Echoing through the endless horizon of the Jupiter Diaphanous, the threat became nothing more than a whisper.

“Is the time finally upon us, father? Will you breathe life into it?”

“Oh, hush, Ares,” he laughed. “Allow me to dive in this sea of tranquility for a moment. Such a precious feeling... And ephemeral, it pains me to admit.”

“Do you believe the Titans might break out of their prison?”

“I do, my son. As long as Kronos lives, that possibility will hang upon us, for he is Time itself, creator and destroyer of eternities.”

“Wouldn’t it be best if we killed him then?” Ares worried. “Even I, who was born for the sole purpose of battling them, acknowledge their power to extinguish us.”

“Without Kronos, we would be trapped in a single moment forever,” Hera added, floating towards the two gods. She had just completed the task of removing any asteroids orbiting around Jupiter, in order to clean the surroundings for the ritual that was about to start. “Until another is born, another god or Titan blessed by Time, it will be as if we died as well, along with the entire galaxy.”

“The Sun shall grant us a few _aeons_ of peace, enough for our new home to grow and thrive,” Zeus determined. “Fear not, my son. Your children shouldn’t have the power to influence you.”

“They don’t,” Ares said, even though he wasn’t sure of it himself.

“Fear is meant for the weak creatures we will soon be ruling, not for us.”

The god of War simply nodded in agreement.  

Neighbor to the star was the planet Jupiter, its name inspired by that of the Solar System’s, the Jupiter Diaphanous. It had been chosen among all the others planets in the universe—including Uranus and Neptune, which were also part of the Diaphanous—to be home to the colony Zeus planned on creating, thanks to its singular position in the system, that allowed the planet to support life. After _aeons_ of wandering and floating throughout the cosmos, after seeing and feeling so much, curiosity had driven Zeus to believe it was time the gods gave birth to something other than soulless heavenly bodies. Living things capable of thinking and feeling, similar to them, and yet very different, more fragile; they didn’t need a new batch of Titans. The existing ones were already doing their best to prevent Zeus’ vision from coming true, as they believed Jupiter’s real purpose was harboring an army of gods strong enough to take them all down. The birth of the twins Deimos and Phobos—sons of Ares, god of War, and Aphrodite, goddess of Love, and first of that kind—only ignited their theory, and thus the final battle began.

“It’s done, sir.” Aphrodite finally appeared, a wide smile brightening her pretty face.

“All of it?” Zeus asked.

“Yes, all the way to Uranus. I figured it wouldn’t be necessary to go any further.”

“Indeed, it wouldn’t. And once I build up Jupiter’s atmosphere, we won’t have to worry about collisions anymore.”

Although the Diaphanous was fairly stable, unlike other Solar Systems, destructive encounters between heavenly bodies still occurred. If the moving speed of an asteroid were too great, not even Zeus himself would be capable of preventing a collision, which would lead to a catastrophic outcome. One could not predict where or when a planet similar to Jupiter would ever be formed.

“Where are Deimos and Phobos?” Zeus inquired, noticing that only his grandchildren weren’t present for the ritual.

Aphrodite frowned.

“I believe they’re playing somewhere on the edge of the Diaphanous... I can summon them.”

“No, there’s no need,” he assured. “Let them play. After their pathetic performance in our last battle, it’s best if they don’t get in our way.”

“They’re still young…”

“I was young when I first defied Kronos’ ruling over us,” he belittled. “They almost allowed Tethys to escape. What do you believe would have happened if she could roam free through the Diaphanous?”

Aphrodite relucted to answer.

“She would have… destroyed Jupiter.”

“Then I suppose you understand why I’m displeased with them. We went through a great deal of trouble to create this colony to lose it now.” Satisfied, he glanced at the planet’s reddish surface and smiled. It would soon be filled with colors and a variety of shapes, sounds and creatures. “Shall I begin?”

 

Far from the commotion, Deimos actively looked for his twin brother amid the dense, deep clouds of Neptune. Phobos enjoyed that kind of game so immensely they had already given it a name: _hide and seek_. His favorite playground happened to be Andromeda, an adjacent galaxy, however, their mother had advised them against stepping out of the Diaphanous until they had beheld Zeus’ latest creation and payed the proper compliments to their grandfather. A mighty god’s hurt pride was assuredly one of greatest perils of the universe. 

“Phobos, where are you?”

Though he had a fairly good idea of where Phobos was hiding, it was part of the game pretending to have lost sight of him and flying around the area calling out his name. That allowed his brother to experience the dreadful fear of being alone and Deimos the dreadful pleasure of terrorizing him. They were the gods of Fear and Terror, after all.

Nonetheless, in that particular moment, Deimos didn’t feel very inclined to follow the script.

“I mean it this time. Where are you?” he cried, but received no answer. “Oh, come on! I’m leaving, Phobos. I don’t want to play anymore.”

Being ignored again led him to grunt and float away from the planet.

“Wait!” The young god emerged from a great dark spot, an anticyclonic storm on the surface of Neptune. He had shrunk to the size of a small asteroid, but grew back in order to stop his brother. “Deimos, wait, please! What happened?”

Deimos was taken over by guilt once he laid eyes on Phobos’ desperate expression. He usually chose his words very carefully when they were together, but ever since the battle against the Titans, he hadn’t been feeling quite like himself. The fact that scaring Phobos always gave him a boost of energy didn’t help either.

“Nothing. I’m sorry. I wasn’t really going to leave,” he explained with a smirk. “Well… Not for too long, anyway.”

Seeing Phobos’ eyes widen made him laugh.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Actually… No, it has nothing to do with you,” Deimos looked away, admiring the gassy surface of Neptune. “I’m just... not in the mood right now.”

“But what happened?”

Since lying to him would be futile, Deimos simply stayed quiet. As the first twin gods to inhabit the cosmos, apart from gathering more power by interacting with others, like everyone else, their mainly source of energy lied in their relationship with each other, a symbiotic bond which made them stronger the more they explored it—playing hide and seek, for example. Thanks to that bond, Phobos could always feel when he was happy, miserable or lying. Therefore, not saying a word often beat starting a long argument.

“Deimos, please…”

“It’s nothing! I don’t...” he grunted. “I’m sad, that’s all.”

“I know that. I just wish you would tell me why, otherwise I cannot help you.”

They remained silent for a bit, both thinking of something else to say and coming up with nothing.

“Maybe we should go to Jupiter and watch Zeus’ ritual,” Deimos proposed, though the idea of doing so made him uncomfortable. He had committed a critical error in the final battle against the Titans and knew that the only reason Zeus hadn’t unleashed his wrath upon him and Phobos yet was the wounds they all had sustained from the fight. Punishing his grandchildren took about as much strength as breathing life into a dead planet. But their sentence would come, and Deimos wondered if there was really a point in delaying it.

“That’s too near the Titans’ prison for my taste,” Phobos stated, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

“But that place will be our new home from now on.”

“I know…” He sighed. “I wish we could just roam around the universe forever. Why can’t we?”

“Because Zeus said so.”

“You’re right…” A shiver ran down his spine again. “I’m going to miss Neptune. And Uranus. Will we ever be allowed to fly to Andromeda? I don’t think…”

While Phobos lost himself in a long speech about the places in the universe he would miss visiting, Deimos’ eyes were drawn to the purple bruises around his neck. Gods healed quickly, and yet those wounds didn’t seem to have faded at all. They still preserved the distinct shape of fingers from when Tethys, the Titan of Memory, had tried to choke him and flee.

“Does it hurt?”

“What?” Phobos asked, completely distracted.

“Your neck.”

“What are you…” He didn’t understand what Deimos meant until he touched the area. It stung. “I think it’s her hate. Not towards me specifically, but all of us. It will take a while to go away. Oh, no…” Phobos gazed at him. “You’re still thinking about Tethys, aren’t you?”

Deimos looked away.

“Of course I am.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Deimos. Not even father was able to handle her on his own.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Don’t…” Phobos rolled his eyes. “Then why ask if it’s still hurting? You know what happens if you keep bottling your feelings up like that. They’ll start to hunt you and soon you’ll be terrified of your own thoughts. Being afraid of yourself is _awful_. Believe me.” Deimos couldn’t argue with that. “It’s like falling into a black hole with no hope of ever coming out. I only find my way up because you’re always with me.”

Reluctant, Phobos reached out to touch him. The possibility of rejection made him nauseous. He closed his eyes and trembled as his fingers brushed Deimos’ shoulders.

“You always ease my anxiety with your courage. Let me try and do the same for you.”

“Ease me with your courage?,” Deimos teased him.

“Something… Something like that.”

Deimos took the lead and embraced him, feeling his body stiffen due to the contact. As the moments passed, Phobos finally managed to hug him back and relax.

“I was supposed to do this,” he said, resting his cheek on Deimos’ shoulder.

“I know, but I just couldn’t wait. I’m impatient, like father.”

His words were soft, as Deimos usually sounded when they were talking to each other, however, any mention of the god of War brought a gloomy and unsettling feeling to Phobos’ heart. He would never be as dauntless as Ares or as empathetic as Aphrodite. Though he seemed to embody a unique power like anyone else, it didn’t serve any purpose besides hindering him from acting when necessary—even if “acting” meant simply comforting the one he loved the most. In contrast Deimos was the very opposite, and Phobos often felt both thankful and jealous of that.

“Even father needed help to imprison Tethys,” Phobos brought back the subject. “It took him, Hera and you to defeat her.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Deimos—”

Phobos had no choice but to stop talking once their lips met. Though he knew Deimos was trying to distract him, the universe fell into its usual deep silence and even Phobos’ mind, a whirlwind of worry and self-doubt, melt away for an instant. Their bodies grew closer together, suggesting that Deimos planned on going further. Whether to guarantee Tethys would be forgotten or simply because it had been a while, it was unclear. When his tongue found its way in, his left hand slowly slid down Phobos’ back, grabbing his ass and as a result, rubbing their groins together.

A hoarse moan came from Deimos’ mouth, instantly muffled by a pair of eager lips. Quivery fingers ran through his hair and he enjoyed feeling the cold sweat against his skin whenever they touched. Their moves were always contrasting, one too slow, the other too fast, one unsure of where to caress his brother—even though they had done that countless times in infinite corners of the galaxy—, the other knowing exactly how hard he could bite to evoke both pain and excitement.

Deimos fed off Phobos’ insecurities and increased his constant fear of being abandoned or rejected. Through direct contact, their energy levels reached their peak, their feelings mingled, their bodies reclaimed the right to be united once again, like they had been inside Aphrodite’s womb. Soon the differences between them would quell and fade, since Terror and Fear were two sides of the same coin, two parts that formed a whole. As Hera often said, they had indeed been made for each other.

“Not there…” Phobos groaned while Deimos licked one of the bruises on his neck.

“Am I hurting you? I thought…”

And suddenly Tethys was choking Phobos right before him. Deimos backed off at once.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think about… I…”

“Wait, you don’t have to stop,” Phobos murmured, his eyes widened.

“I’m sorry…”

Deimos looked away, increasing the distance between them.

As fast as it had started, the mood was gone.

“I was actually trying to avoid talking about this by kissing you,” he chuckled nervously.

“Tethys?” Phobos asked. “I get why you started it, but why did you stop?”

Deimos thought again about lying and hated the fact that it would be useless.

“Whenever I see your bruises, I… I keep reliving the moment she tried to kill you.”

“Deimos…”

“It’s silly, I know, but I can’t help it…”

“It isn’t silly.”

“Please don’t.” He moved his arm away when Phobos attempted to get any closer. “Not right now.”

“You were all over me a moment ago.” Phobos raised an eyebrow.

“It’s… it’s complicated.”

“Then explain it to me!”

A bitter, horrible feeling took over Phobos’ chest while he spoke. _Rejected._ No jokes, no hide and seek—he was being actively rejected. He could sense a black hole opening right beneath his feet.

“I don’t get it!” he nagged. “What did I do wrong? She was the one who attacked me and now you don’t even want to touch me anymore!”

“You didn’t _do_ anything, Phobos,” Deimos grunted. “But neither did I and that’s the problem. When she attacked, I didn’t… I didn’t protect you!”

“But you couldn’t possibly have! We’re the youngest beings in the universe. We’re not strong enough to take down a Titan yet!”

“Except that’s not true… I could have subdued her. All I had to do was terrify her to the point Tethys was rendered speechless, motionless. I’m the god of Terror! That’s what I was born to do and I failed. Instead of scaring the life out of her, _I_ got too afraid to act!”

“Tethys is one of the most powerful Titans ever created, Deimos. Fearing her is only natural.”

“Not for me,” he insisted. “I’m supposed to be brave and fight, because you can’t. And I failed, which almost cost your life. I could have lost you, Phobos, and that would’ve truly been _unbearable_. My black hole. And no one would ever pull me out of it.”

Trying not to smile proved to be a huge effort for Phobos, who felt immensely happy after hearing such a confession. He didn’t want to ruin the mood—again—, but suppressing that emotion would cause a new fear to arise faster. Moments of true peace of mind were rare and usually followed something Deimos did or said. In order to comfort and thank him at the same time, Phobos approached his brother and hugged him from behind, preparing himself for the blow of being rejected again.

Deimos didn’t move.

“Tethys didn’t kill me, my love,” said Phobos with a soft voice. “You mustn’t suffer for something that never happened. I understand my neck is a constant reminder of the horror we’ve been through, but you shouldn’t dwell on it. It’s over now and she won’t hurt me anymore.”

“It’s not over,” Deimos disagreed, holding the hand on his chest. “Zeus is still going to punish us, both of us, for my mistake. He thinks it’s your fault that I was afraid, he thinks we are defected, abnormal, because we’re twins.”

A familiar kind of sadness filled the space between them.

“I don’t mind. It’d hurt more to watch you suffer. And who cares how Zeus feels about us? I doubt any god will ever experience a love as great as the one we share.”

Phobos meant every single word and due to their bond, Deimos was completely aware of that. He felt a strong sense of reassurance flowing from it and that, added to the warm, calming arms that embraced him, was enough to wipe away all his apprehension. Their connection was unique, special, and despite some painful memories, he would always treasure and protect it.

“I just wish there was a way to prevent the Titans from ever breaking free.” He sighed and turned around to look into Phobos’ eyes.

“Well, we can’t kill them, or Zeus would’ve already done that, and keeping them in a star further away from the Diaphanous would only delay our encounter for a few moments…”

“That depends on which star we choose, actually.” An idea started to take shape in his head. “If they were trapped in a galaxy far, far away from here, we might be able to seize a longer period of peace. Being half a universe apart from us could in fact discourage them to interfere in our matters.”

“It doesn’t sound very practical… We barely made out of that battle in one piece. How could we possibly drag them all across the universe, lock them up in some forgotten star and still come back without losing anyone?”

“Maybe we don’t need to drag them at all. There’s a faster way to send the Titans somewhere they cannot reach us. You mentioned it earlier.”

“I did?”

Deimos showed him a wide smile.

“A black hole.”

Watching Phobos’ eyes widen, he analyzed their options. A supernova, the death of a star, could open a new black hole, but using the Sun would make Jupiter unable to sustain any life.

“Deimos, this is dangerous…”

“Not if we choose a star not too close, but not far from here. I just can’t remember their exact positions…”

“I don’t mean to Jupiter,” Phobos insisted. “To us. The pull of gravity might be too strong for us fly away to safety in time.”

“I can do it.”

“Deimos…”

“Think about what Zeus would do if we got rid of the Titans for him! I know you’re scared, because you always are, but I also know I can do it. Believe in me!”

“I do, it’s just that…” Phobos stayed quiet for an instant, trying not to feel so dizzy in sight of Deimos’ clear attempted suicide. “What if you die?”

“I won’t!”

“You said losing me would be unbearable. How do you think I would feel watching you being sucked by a black hole?!”

“But I won’t be!” He became irritated. “I’m the fastest god alive! That’s why I was the first to get to Tethys when she tried to escape. I can do it, Phobos!”

“Then I’m going with you.”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“You must wait in a safe spot. Fear tends to petrify you and we can’t afford stopping, even for the briefest moment, once the star explodes,” Deimos reminded him. “This is perfectly doable as long as you trust me. And help me choose a star, because I never memorize their positions…”

Though he chuckled, Phobos remained tense and terrified by the whole idea. True, it’d be great to please Zeus for once and make him forget about their punishment, but not at the cost of losing Deimos. Breathing slowly in and out, he wondered if his powers were indeed blinding him and leading him to ignore his brother’s ability to accomplish that plan. Deimos was a gifted, talented god, unlike himself. He could accomplish anything.

“There’s Nebula,” he murmured, defeated. “It’s close enough and its system is formed merely by a few asteroids. Nothing great would be lost with its death. Or you could use Proxima Centauri, but it’s a bigger star that would generate a bigger explosion…”

Deimos kissed his cheek.

“You’re amazing.”

Phobos laughed nervously.

“I don’t feel quite like that…”

“I can take care of that right after we banish the Titans to the other side of the universe,” he said with a wink.

Giggling, Phobos looked away, impressed by how silly he was. Deimos offered him a hand.

“Will you travel to Nebula with me?”

“Of course.”

They flew from Neptune together, in a speed appropriate for both of them. For the first time since Zeus had announce the birth of the colony, Phobos was able to imagine a life for them in Jupiter. Ruling over someone might actually be interesting, and he found himself looking forward to guiding the newborns, showing them some of the secrets he had learned throughout his immortal life and teaching them to be cautious. Deimos would probably ruin all his work by advertising the rewards of taking risks, which would result in the death of a few creatures, and they’d fight about it for a bit, only to make up moments later. Phobos couldn’t wait.

“This is close enough,” Deimos determined once they left the Diaphanous.

“I can barely see Nebula… How will I see you?”

“You’ll see me when I get back.”

“Deimos…”

“Don’t be afraid.”

They shared a long kiss and the god of Terror floated away from his lover.

Being alone didn’t calm Phobos’ mind; it was quite the opposite. He started fantasizing about all kinds of crazy death scenarios. Deimos died in the explosion. Debris from the star knocked him out and killed him. He managed to fly all the way to Phobos, but got sucked by the black hole’s gravitational pull and vanished. They _both_ got sucked and justified that metaphor about never coming up again. They were successful until they reached the Sun and moved the Titans, who subdued them and killed them.

Though Phobos tried his best not to panic, his whole body was shivering, covered in sweat and giving him the fearsome impression that he was about to faint. No one would rescue him in time and he’d be lost in a foreign galaxy, not knowing whether Deimos had come back alive or died, sentencing him to _aeons_ of quiet desperation and dread.

At this point, he had curled himself in a ball and cried copiously to the nothingness. It was quiet, dark, dead.

And suddenly it wasn’t.

The light first created a huge ellipsis around Nebula, which shrunk and then expanded non-stop, engulfing every heavenly body it could touch. It wouldn’t take long for it to swallow him whole. Deimos was right—fear had just petrified him.

“Phobos, what… what are you doing?!”

Those words startled him, but failed to soften the blow that came afterwards—Deimos’ arms hit his back hard and dragged him towards the Jupiter Diaphanous, uncertain about the best path to choose.

“Where do we go?! To Neptune? Jupiter?”

Since horror had turned Phobos’ brain into mush, he blinked a few times before answering:

“Jupiter… The supernova should pass right in the middle.”

There was only dust and emptiness between the two planets.

“Come on!” Deimos yelled, holding his hand and encouraging him to move faster.

“Deimos!”

The moment he looked, an enormous asteroid, a piece of the fallen star, was approaching them at full speed. Even in their normal size the gods seemed too small in comparison. Instinct drove them to deflect, however, each twin picked a different side and barely avoided separation by tightening the grip of their hands. Thus, the asteroid struck them.

Phobos screamed while the flames burned bits of his bare skin. His body kept spinning away from Jupiter and rotating around his own axis, unable to find balance. All that pain made his eyes blurry and he couldn’t see any sign of Deimos or at least hear his voice. Death was upon him. The bruises on his neck felt like they were on fire, as if the hate Tethys had inflicted in them celebrated his imminent demise. “Deimos,” he called in silence, stricken by the sudden urge to say goodbye. “Deimos, Deimos, Deimos…” He had always known the end would be like this, with all of his greatest fears coming true. He thought about Ares, Aphrodite, Hera and even Zeus, wondering who would miss him. Apart from losing Deimos, the idea for being entirely forgotten terrified him. But why wouldn’t they? What kind of greatness had he achieved throughout his life? What would be his legacy to the universe? Had he even loved Deimos as much as he deserved? Often restraining himself and hesitating, the answer was clear enough.

Tethys appeared before his eyes, a smile in her face. He tried to shake his head to break up the illusion, but nothing changed. She grabbed his shoulders and then his neck. He couldn’t move. Choked to death, as it should have been.

_“Look at me!”_

Unsure of whether that voice came from outside or inside his mind, Phobos gasped and his eyes widened. A desperate version of his once-confident brother Deimos materialized before him. He was incessantly shaking Phobos—both hands on his shoulders—in hopes he’d wake up.

“You’re alive!”

The hug that followed hurt more than it assuaged anyone. Phobos stared at his own wounds and realized it was true.

“I am…”

And still no greatness, no breathtaking declarations of love. Alas, he was alive and had a new opportunity to fail.

“I was so worried… You were out for a while,” said Deimos and finally everything fell into place.

“Your face!”

He had suffered such severe burns one of his eyes was white instead of the usual brown. Half his hair had disintegrated and Phobos could see the bloody flesh covering his neck all the way to his chest.

“Please calm down… It looks worse than it feels.”

“Calm down?! You promised you’d be fine!”

“I promised I wouldn’t get sucked by the black hole… I think. Did I use the word ‘promise’?”

“Does it matter? Can you even see with your right eye?!”

A new explosion put an end to their discussion. It wasn’t nearly as huge as Nebula’s supernova nor emitted the same light, though the direction it had come from alarmed them.

“What just happened?!” Deimos asked, utterly confused.

“That’s… I think that’s Jupiter.”

And Deimos’ heart was afflicted by a particular type of horror.

“No. Phobos, what…”

“That asteroid.” He sounded numb, as if something other than his lips were uttering the words. “I think it flew all the way to Jupiter and they… they collided.”

“No.”

“Deimos…”

“It’s something else,” he determined and steered in that direction. “Let’s go, Phobos!”

“Wait, I’m not that fast!”

But Deimos kept going, without looking back. An agonizing feeling had taken over him and he must— _he must_ —get rid of it. Although he heard an anxious Phobos calling his name, he didn’t dare to turn around, or he might run away from the Diaphanous and never return. His eyes were focused, but it was his ears that first picked up a sign that something had gone terribly wrong.

“Father! Please talk to me!”

Ares and Zeus stood at a safe distance from the debris of the first, the second, the third collision, which still flew around aimlessly and tried to find stability enough to orbit around something. Where Jupiter, that majestic and unique planet, used to be, there were several flaming asteroids of all shapes and sizes, smaller planets or useless detritus which would soon collide with the formers and become cosmic dust.

“The boys! The boys are here!” Hera announced, and only Ares came to greet them.

“My dear sons! Are you unharmed?!”

Deimos was still in the worst shape of the group, but he didn’t mind his wounds, his father’s, any of it. Zeus’ lack of action made his body shiver. The god just stood there, paralyzed, contemplating the shards of what once had been his dream, that was now over. They had defied and fought the Titans over it, spilled blood to defend Jupiter and their quintessential right to create life, all for nothing. The war meant nothing now. They had risked their lives for nothing. And it was Deimos’ fault.

“It destroyed Jupiter…”

Ares glanced at him with a sad look on his face.

“Did you see the explosion? It must have been a star…”

“It was.” Tears glided away from his lids. “It was a star. But it wasn’t supposed to affect the Diaphanous…”

“What do you mean?”

“Deimos, don’t!” Phobos yelled.

When their eyes met, the god of Terror felt fear consuming his twin, who believed they would be in serious danger if Deimos said another word. However, once he started talking, he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

“I created a black hole, father. I wanted to banish the Titans to some place far away from here, so they wouldn’t hurt us anymore…”

“You… A black hole?”

“What did you do?”

Zeus’ words came in such a harsh tone even Ares shut his mouth and waited for the god to get near them. Phobos tried to hug himself and prevent all his dread from showing, but it didn’t work very well, and Deimos, target of that upcoming wrath, froze in place. Only Hera didn’t seem to be affected by her husband’s ferocious aura, that contaminated all the spaces between them.

“ _What_ did you do, Deimos?”

“I…”

“Answer me.”

“I blew up Nebula and the part of the debris flew over the Diaphanous and destroyed Jupiter. Zeus, I—” A strong hand restrained his neck, forcing him to emit low, hoarse whisper. “I didn’t… mean to…”

“You crushed the only planet in the entire galaxy capable of sustaining life. You _murdered_ my colony. Do you understand, Deimos? _Do you?_ ”

“It was me!” Phobos rushed towards them. “I did it! Please let him go! I did it!”

“No… He didn’t…”

“Father, you’re tearing his flesh!” Ares intervened, separating the two gods. Zeus’ fingers had thrust into Deimos’ burn and opened a cut from which flowed thin strings of blood.

“Which one of you did it?”

“My love, I suggest we address this matter once we’ve all calmed down,” Hera proposed. “You’re hurt, all of us are, especially Deimos. This isn’t the time.”

“I say it is. _Who did it?_ ”

“I did,” said Phobos in a quavering voice.

“No, stop!” Deimos interfered, and more blood streamed from his wounds. His right eye now displayed an opaque red color due to the trauma. “He’s lying. He’s trying to protect me!”

“Your brother is right. You don’t have it in you to commit such a reckless mistake,” Zeus turned to the god of Fear. “You’re the weak half.”

“Exactly! So punish me,” Deimos insisted.

“No!” Phobos could barely see the others through his tears and there was no indication that they’d stop any time soon. “Don’t hurt him!”

“Someone is responsible for the death of this system’s biggest planet, for which we battled the Titans nearly to the cost of our own lives.”

“But father, what if it’s not over yet?” Ares analyzed the newborn planets around them. “One of Jupiter’s fragments might still be able to hold life.”

“Can you predict the future, Ares? Can you foresee which one—if any—of these burning, shapeless heavenly bodies will have the exact size, orbit around the Sun in the exact distance to enable that? Can you guarantee me that it isn’t all lost already?”

“I… I can’t.”

“No one can. It took us _aeons_ to find Jupiter and that was our only chance. The Titans swore to destroy it because they hate us and hoped to rule over us once again. We went to war to defend it, we risked _everything_ for this planet and now their intent was fulfilled by my own grandchildren.”

As much as Ares desired to protect his sons from whatever it was to come, he knew it couldn’t be helped. It was fair to punish them—after all, the Titans were forever trapped in the Sun for their mere attempt to destroy Jupiter—and Zeus wouldn’t stop until he had his way. A mighty god’s hurt pride was indeed one of greatest perils of the universe. 

“I understand the gravity of what I did,” Deimos explained, feeling now all the pain caused by his collision with the asteroid. His shoulder still bled, his neck ached and as far as he could tell, he had lost an eye. “I only ask you not to punish Phobos. He didn’t have anything to do with it, I swear.”

“Deimos, I won’t stand here and hear you—”

“Shut up!” He yelled. “It was me now. It was me who let Tethys escape from their burning cage and failed to stop her in our final battle. I did it all. Punish me.”

“In that case…”

Zeus stopped, squinting, when he saw Phobos embrace Deimos from behind and hold him tight.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not going to watch it. And no, I’m not letting you go!” He added, since Deimos started complaining.

“The sentence for a crime like this is death”, Zeus murmured. “Do you understand? Unlike the Titans, you hold no value to this galaxy. You have no power over it, no influence and I will make sure to keep it that way, so that something like this never happens again.”

Hera tried to say something, but Ares stopped her. The twins simply stared at their grandfather, waiting for the words to sink in.

“He is right,” Ares said with a heavy heart.

“Do you want to die with him?”

“Phobos, let me go _now_.”

“No. I won’t stand it, Deimos, I can’t. You know it. I can’t,” he repeated. “It’s… it’s _unbearable_.”

“Phobos, please let me go.”

“No.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

“As I’ve never been before.”

“Then please…”

“I can’t. I won’t leave you.” Holding him tightly, Phobos rested his cheek on the left side of Deimos’ neck. “It’s scarier without you.”

He could feel every shiver, his warmth, his fear and his love. Their bond resonated and allowed all the emotions to flow both ways at the same time. Even in a terrible situation like this, somehow they still managed to find a balance and stand there, the closest they could be to one whole being.

“Do it,” Phobos asked, and he had never experienced such a fear in his entire life.

Deimos laid his eyes on him and smiled.

 

After a pointless search all over the Diaphanous, Aphrodite went back to Jupiter to report the result. Instead of a giant planet in the system’s very center, she found several smaller ones and two beaten up gods. Hera was away, supervising the Titans’ prison.

“I couldn’t find them anywhere!” She lamented while she approached the others. “They weren’t near Neptune, Uranus… I think they left the Diaphanous!”

“They didn’t,” Ares answered.

“What? And…” She finally paid attention to her surroundings. “What happened here? The colony…”

“It’s dead. Deimos and Phobos blew up Nebula and a piece of it collided with Jupiter. It’s all over,” Zeus explained with a neutral expression.

“They… They destroyed it? But then…”

“They should have never been born. Twins… I knew it’d be a disaster.”

Aphrodite frowned and refrained from replying him. Comments like those always led to endless, tiresome discussions and she was still too confused to indulge Zeus. She glared at her husband, whose sealed lips tried to tell her something.

“What is it, Ares?!”

“The twins. You didn’t ask about their punishment.”

At first, she looked for Deimos and Phobos on the surface of each and every asteroid in that area, hoping to find them hurt, chained to a rock, and then beheld the Sun.

“Are they locked away with the Titans?”

“No.”

Ares’ silence helped her reach the only possible conclusion:

“Did you _kill them_ , Zeus?! Did you murder my children?”

He ignored her rage.

“They murdered my planet. This is what’s left of it, Aphrodite.” The god indicated the big brown one with stripes, which suggested it suffered from constant storms in several areas. A slim ring system was taking shape around it. The others planets presented more lively colors, probably due to the fusion of elements during and after the collision. “And this…” He pointed to a darker spot shaped as an ellipsis. “is where the asteroid hit it. An anticyclonic storm, like Neptune’s. I don’t believe it will ever end.”

Aphrodite, in all her love and empathy, showed him her most choleric expression.

“Where are they?”

“I sucked the life out of them. Now they’re soulless heavenly bodies, similar to the ones that surround us, to the asteroid that shattered our dream. I placed them here, to orbit around Jupiter, an eternal reminder of their crime.”

Tears flowing from her eyes, Aphrodite sought after something that resembled Deimos and Phobos, her beloved twins, and found nothing but stone and dust. She followed the satellites Zeus mentioned, two deformed asteroids that orbited separately and only met once in every turn.

“Did they choose to die apart?”

“No, they died in each other’s arms.”

“And you separated them?”

“They scattered Jupiter along the Diaphanous. It was only fair they’d suffer a similar fate.”

Aphrodite remained silent. From the fury which engulfed her, emerged the bitter, never-ending sadness of a mother who knew her children were gone forever and there was nothing she could do.

 

Several _aeons_ followed that moment and, despite the odds, eventually another planet came to bear the necessary conditions to hold life—a blue one, a lot smaller than Jupiter and a bit closer to the Sun. Zeus performed his ritual and once he was done, he had created the planet Earth, where the gods might establish themselves and reign over a new batch of living creatures, mortals, in order to avoid wars as had happened before with the Titans.

As the Earth grew and thrived, the mortals started to acknowledge the existence of the gods and celebrated them with monuments and festivities. To each major god, a planet in the Solar System was assigned by Zeus, to serve as a token of their power and to allude that they would always be there, watching over the Earth in silence. Most details of this story wound up lost while it was told and retold, as was bound to happen. Still, some things remained similar: the Titans, for instance, who were often remembered as the gods’ greatest enemies, capable of smashing entire planets, and who became the antagonists of various heroic tales starring gods or the mortals themselves.

In this rich mythology, however, there was no mention or indication of the twin gods that once had inhabited the cosmos, those responsible for the death of the first colony. They only lived in the hearts of their parents, never forgotten, and as distant satellites orbiting around Jupiter, the planet to which Zeus had offered his blessings.

Ashamed of his inertia during their altercation, when he deemed enough time had passed, Ares pleaded in behalf of his children, asking Zeus to make them moons of Mars, his planet, so that they could be closer to their family. The joy brought by the mortals was such that Zeus consented, and Deimos and Phobos became the only satellites orbiting around Mars, though forever apart, now meeting three times in every turn.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this short story came when I read that neither Deimos nor Phobos have stories about them in Greek mythology, though they're part of the pantheon and everything. There's also a theory about how the Solar System was formed which states that Jupiter was a giant planet that once collided with something and got divided in several parts, which are the others planets we have, like Mars, Venus and Earth itself. I put it all together and voilá!
> 
> Well, if you actually read this, thank you! I hope you liked it. Please leave kudos, a comment, whatever you like. It'll make me really happy.
> 
> See ya next time
> 
> I'm okay


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